#kalysa

Alysa leaned comfortably against the blue padded boards. Dressed in her sleek black practice top and patterned tights, she looked unbothered by everything.

KK skated towards her, then leaned heavily on her stick.

"You look like a giant blue marshmallow," Alysa said cheerfully. "A sweaty one."

KK rolled her eyes behind her cage, lifting her visor slightly to wipe her brow with a padded glove. "We've been skating lines for fifty minutes straight. Cut me some slack, Smiley."

"Just saying," Alysa grinned, her eyes glinting with pure mischief. "All those layers just to chase a tiny piece of rubber around? Pfft. Dramatic. If you're scared of the puck, you could just say that."

"Scared?” KK let out a dry laugh, tapping her hockey stick against Alysa’s skate blade. “Alysa, some of us actually play a contact sport. We don't just glide around music and look pretty."

"Excuse me?" Alysa gasped, feigning deep offense. "I’ll have you know my routines are a harsh display of figure skating supremacy. And I do it without pillows strapped to my hips. If I fall doing a triple Axel, it's just me.”

"Yeah, but nobody is trying to body-slam you into the boards while you're doing it," KK countered, leaning her forearm against the top of the barrier, looming over Alysa. "I’d love to see you take a slap shot to the shin and see how 'dramatic' it feels."

"I'd just dodge it. No sweats.” Alysa shot back. She reached out, playfully tapping the front of KK’s grated helmet cage. "Also, how do you even see through this thing? It looks like a birdcage."

"Keeps me from biting you.” KK said, though a fond, reluctant smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

Alysa laughed, "Pretty sure that’s a major penalty."

"It’d be worth the two minutes in the box," KK then leans her forearms heavily on the padded ledge.

"You’d be breaking an Olympic code of conduct," Alysa said, leaning in. She poked her bare fingers through the wire cage of KK’s helmet, booping her nose. "Interfering with a figure skater's professionalism on the ice."

KK scoffed, her reluctant smile breaking into a full, radiant beam. "Me? You're the one always loitering by my bench."

"You looked winded. Thought a distraction might help.”

"I was skating lines, Alysa!" KK laughed, tilting her head down.

"Works, though," Alysa murmured, her eyes crinkling as her smile softened. "You haven't looked down your stick in the last five minutes."

"Can you blame me?" KK’s voice dropped, a bit softer, her eyes locked entirely on Alysa's face. "My stick’s boring. You're not."

"Wow. Flattery." Alysa’s cheeks flushed pink, "You’re whipped.”

“A little," KK chuckled.

"Good.”

A fellow USA hockey player suddenly skated past KK. “Your girlfriend bothering you again?”

Before KK could answer, Alysa looked at him proudly. “She’s right where she wants to be.”

He blinked. “By… ragebaiting her?”

“Yup.”

“Hm. Figures.” He shrugged and went on with his own rehearsals.

KK shakes her head then hooked her stick under her arm, reaching out with a heavy glove to gently shove Alysa's shoulder. "Go back to your little spins, Smiley. Aren't you supposed to be visualizing a gold medal or something?"

“Nah," Alysa purred, leaning closer over the boards, her smile widening. "Just visualizing you getting bodychecked by your ex."

KK shook her head, letting out a soft chuckle as the coach's whistle blew loudly across the rink, signaling the end of their break. "Gotta go. Please trip while I'm gone."

"Not a chance," Alysa grinned.

Instead of backing away, she reached up, grabbed the bottom of KK's wire cage, and unlatched the bottom clips.

"Hey, what are you—"

Alysa flipped the cage up and planted a kiss right on the tip of KK’s nose.

The whistle blasted again.

"Harvey! I said get moving!“ the coach hollered.

KK groaned, her face instantly flushing red. She snapped her cage back down into place, but before turning away, she reached over the boards, Grabbing Alysa's face with one hand, squishing both of her cheeks together in a fit of cuteness aggression.

“KK! my make up—“ Alysa mumbled through her squished face.

"Don’t care, now we’re even. I’ll ruin your make up later anyway.” KK grumbled, her eyes smiling through the cage. She let go, gave Alysa's head a playful little shove, and finally pushed off the boards.

Alysa tilts her head in response to that, considering the threat by narrowing her eyes playfully. Then she grins widely.